11.30.07

Sport - Czechs seek second coming

Posted in Dating advices, Dating tips at 1:02 am by alsi

Read source on Sport - Czechs seek second coming

Oozing with confidence after an long distance dating tip qualifying campaign, the Czech Republic fancy their chances at this year’s European Championship.

Even sharing a tough group with Holland, Latvia and old rivals Germany is unlikely to dampen their spirits.

“In Euro 96 we were in a group with Germany, Russia and Italy, and we still reached the final,” former goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek told BBC Sport.

“The expectation’s very high this time. I’d tip them to reach the last four.”

Certainly an impressive show in Portugal could wipe out memories of recent disdating funny tips and return the Czechs to the glory days of eight years ago.

It was at Euro 96 that the side announced their arrival on the dating dating free free online tip scene following the break up of Czechoslovakia with their sensational surge to the final.



People know and respect Bruckner in the Czech Republic because he’s kind of like Bobby Robson is to England


Pavel Srnicek

But four years later, the team failed to live up to their debut success, exiting the tournament in the group stages.

“Actually we had a hard group - France, Holland and Denmark,” recalled Srnicek, who was wearing the number one shirt at the time.

“The first game we played was against Holland and we lost on a last minute penalty, which was upsetting.

“The next game we lost 2-1 to France and the tournament was over. We beat Denmark in our last game, but that was the only thing we could take away from the Championship.”

More personals online dating advices followed when the Czechs failed to make it to the 2002 World Cup, but Karel Bruckner’s appointment as coach has signalled a return to winning ways.

A fantastic 17-match unbeaten streak followed, enabling them to become one of the first teams to reach Portugal and condemning qualifying group rivals Holland to a play-off.

Pavel Nedved

Nedved is just one of many stars boosting the Czech’s chances

“People know and respect Bruckner in the Czech Republic because he’s kind of like Bobby Robson is to England,” added the former Czech star, now at West Ham.

“He’s a very good tactician and he always gives a chance to younger players. He brought in players from the under 21 squad to help the team build for the future.

“This has paid off because all those players are doing well at the moment and he mixes it up with the 5fm dating advices players too, like Pavel Nedved, Karel Poborsky.”

As well as mixing youth with experience, there is also a pleasing blend of steel and technique in the team, but it still remains to be seen whether the Czechs can upset the form books against their old foes Germany.

The two sides have their fair share of history together, dating back to 1976 when Czechoslovakia beat the West Germans on penalties to lift their first and only European Championship title.

Just 20 years later, Germany had their revenge, denying the Czechs a second title after Oliver Bierhoff’s golden goal.

“There’s always some passion because we feel whatever those Germans do, they always do well at this tournament, even when they have a bad qualifying campaign.

“Obviously with all this history, it all comes back to you when you play them. We want to give them something back.”

11.29.07

News - Opencast mine inquiry date set

Posted in Dating advices, Dating tips at 12:22 am by alsi



Plans to reopen the biggest opencast dating dating free free online tip in western Europe will be discussed at a public inquiry next month.

The inquiry will determine if proposals to restart coal mining at Ffos-Y-Fran in Merthyr Tydfil should go ahead.

The 12-day Welsh assembly inquiry will open on 7 September into the plans by Miller Argent.

If the scheme is approved, more than 10 million tonnes of coal will be personals online dating advices from the area over 15 years.

The coal is expected to be sold to nearby Aberthaw Power Station, and the developers have promised to pay more than 6m in american singles dating advices site to the local council to be spent on public schemes.

However, local people have voiced strong objections to the plans.

Fears about the effect on health, the devaluation of houses and the impact it will have on inward investment to the town have been raised by people opposed to the scheme.

A 1,000-signature petition was advice dating seduction tip by members of the Merthyr Tydfil Dating advices favour links Alliance against the plans.

But the scheme has had the backing of the Transport and General Workers Union, which says that vital jobs will be brought to the area if the plans are approved.

They say that 200 jobs will be created as a direct result of the scheme, with a further 400 contractor jobs being made.

The public inquiry will open on 7 September at the Bessemer Club, High Street, Dowlais at 1000BST.


Source News - Opencast mine inquiry date set article

11.27.07

News - Text date advert ‘irresponsible’

Posted in Dating advices, Dating tips at 8:45 pm by alsi


A County Down firm has been advice dating seduction tip over an advertisement for its text dating service which could encourage teenagers to make dates with strangers.


The poster, by Bangor-based Dating safety tip Ltd, promised: “You could be meeting someone tonight.” The words, “over 18s only” were featured in the small print.


The Advertising Standards Authority said it was possibly “irresponsible”.


It was “concerned” the poster could imply it was “personals online dating advices for young people to make dates with strangers”.


It was spotted by a member of the public near a local swimming pool, cinema and a fast food restaurant.


Upholding the complaint, the advertising watchdog ruled that the poster could contain a more sinister message


It ruled: “The Authority concluded the poster was likely to be seen to condone or encourage irresponsible behaviour and told the advertisers not to use the approach again.”


The posters depicted a bikini-clad woman sitting by a swimming pool with a mobile phone while three men looked on. All posters have now been removed.


Nicknames


Textandmeet said users dating advices game naruto with each other using nicknames and did not exchange numbers.


It said all messages between users were moderated by an employee who removed contact details before the user’s age was verified.


Safety tips were sent and messages could be blocked, it added.


Textandmeet claimed users who wished to meet were referred to another service which verified their ages.


Source News - Text date advert ‘irresponsible’ article

11.26.07

News - Japanese women

Posted in Dating advices, Dating tips at 12:32 am by alsi

From behind the normally silent walls of the Imperial Palace, came a noise that the Japanese had never heard before.

It was a cry from the Crown princess, and she was not happy. OK not literally. But the message emerged - and it hasn’t been contradicted - that she was frustrated, depressed even. Here was a modern woman trapped by unrealistic expectations dating from a bygone era.

More striking still is that in Japan, she appears not to be alone. Women are growing increasingly restive, no longer prepared to tolerate the submissive role that tradition dictates. They are rejecting duty and motherhood in their millions; the birth-rate is plummeting and the masters, the men, don’t know what to do.

Jonathan Head reported.


Watch the report

JONATHAN HEAD:
Junko Tameda is taking her first steps in flamenco. Like most of the other students here, she is a professional in her 30s, and she’s single. There is a boom in Latin dance as women seek an escape from the stifling formality of everyday life. Japan is going through a social revolution, driven by women like Junko, who are turning their backs on marriage and stamping out their own lives, free of the burden of motherhood. At the age of 32, Junko still lives with her parents. So many unmarried men and women are doing this in Japan, they have coined the term “parasite single” to describe them. Junko doesn’t see herself as a parasite, though - just a young woman choosing to spend her time and money on the finer things in life. Over lunch, the family discuss her most recent holiday in New York. She loves travelling.

JUNKO TAMEDA:
[TRANSLATION]

I have worked hard to build up my freelance business as a graphic designer. I see myself as a success, so why should I be dissatisfied? I never had a strong desire to be married in my 20s, and I feel exactly the same way now.

HEAD:
Junko’s parents once dreamed of a wedding and a handsome husband. Now they seem resigned to having their eldest child living with them indefinitely.

SHIGEKO TAMEDA:
[TRANSLATION]

I was very young when I got married, because that’s what women were expected to do back then. My parents were conservative and they wanted to see me married by a certain age. That was my upbringing, but Junko has chosen to focus on her career and I can see it gives her great fulfilment.

KIYOSHI TAMEDA:
[TRANSLATION]

Marriage is a natural thing, in my view. If she meets someone suitable, she may still get married. If she finds a boyfriend, and perhaps six months or a year later it works out, well of course I will be happy.

HEAD:
There has been no shortage of interest from men, but Junko says none was prepared to allow her the freedoms she now enjoys. It’s been three years since her last relationship.

JUNKO TAMEDA:
[TRANSLATION]

Dating a man was fun, but when I was really keen on this one guy, and we thought about marriage, he started trying to restrict me from doing all the things I love doing. Eventually, I turned him down, and I am sure I made the right decision.

HEAD:
What’s wrong with Japanese men? Why is it so hard to find a good partner?

JUNKO TAMEDA:
[TRANSLATION]

Women these days are doing far more men’s work, that men don’t want to do anything that’s traditionally considered a woman’s role. That’s why we find it so hard to relate to each other. I can’t accept that man expects a woman to make housework a priority over her career.

HEAD:
It’s Sunday afternoon and Hiroe Shibata is snatching a few precious hours of relaxation in the fashionable neighbourhood where she lives, Tokyo’s equivalent of Notting Hill. Hiroe’s life is a hectic one. She is a marketing manager for a rupert grint dating advices drugs company and she is doing a post-graduate MBA. She too is in her 30s and single. In Japan, unmarried, childless women like her have been called “loser dogs”. She lives on her own in a tiny two-room apartment with no space even for a sofa. Her way of life is now the subject of intensive research by Japanese academics and advertisers trying to understand the lucrative single women’s market. She sees herself as a winner, not a loser.

HIROE SHIBATA:
I don’t think we are losers. We win the career. I have a career and I study for myself and that’s going to help my future, so I don’t think I am going to be a loser.

HEAD:
Does it make you angry when you hear that?

SHIBATA:
Not angry, but people think different ways. It’s a different kind of thinking. They think having a baby or getting married is a lifetime goal, but it’s not my goal. It may be a new kind of thinking but I don’t want to be tied up in the kind of traditionals. I want to be what I want to be. If it’s not necessary, I don’t want to get married.

HEAD:
The old spirit of self-sacrifice, which kept their mothers at home, has gone, replaced by a hunger for personals online dating advices. The chat dating advices free site habits of single women now support a huge market for luxury goods. Brands like Prada and Louis Vuitton run more shops here than in any other country. There are also more dogs today in Japan than children. This one is called Bebe. There is no longer any shame in living without a husband or children. Japan’s birth rate has now fallen to one of the lowest in the world. Its population is ageing and shrinking.

KEIKO AOKI:
[TRANSLATION]

When I talk to this dog, I feel like I am the mother of Bebe. When I go out, I always ask, “Do you want to come with mum?” This is my child. I think the number of women who want to have a child, but not a husband, has increased. A dog is a substitute for a child.

HEAD:
The estrangement of men and women is the subject of endless humour on the morning TV chat shows. Here a frustrated wife despairs of her worthless husband. For half a century, Japan built the world’s most successful industrial society on the back of a relentless work ethic which rigidly separated the roles of men and women. Women were tied to looking after the home and children. But the Japanese salaryman was expected to devote every waking hour to his company, even if that meant being a stranger to his own family. It’s a formula which is now being rejected by younger women in their millions, leaving the more traditionally minded men bewildered and confused. In desperation, these young men have formed a group calling themselves The Cherry Boys. A throwback to a bygone age of chivalry, they have taken a vow of chastity until they find the woman of their dreams. They are seeking solace in the romantic plot of the Puccini opera Manon Lescaut.

SHINKICHI WATANABE:
[TRANSLATION]

Women are much more forward these days. There was a time when they used to walk one step behind men. That still happened when my parents were young, but now they are racing ahead and we can’t keep up with them.

HEAD:
Why is it so difficult for guys like you to meet suitable women today in Japan?

KOICHIRO HIROTA:
[TRANSLATION]

It’s difficult. I often wonder about that myself. Perhaps I am a bit distanced from women.

TOMOYA KUMAGAI:
[TRANSLATION]

We can survive even if we don’t have girlfriends. There are a lot of alternatives available now, like the internet. In the old days, people made a real effort for love. But love just isn’t special any more.

HEAD:
There is a very different ideal of a woman which still has a pervasive hold on the mind of Japanese men. Ichimiyo is a maiko, a trainee geisha, one of a few hundred who still work in the city of Kyoto. Today she is joined by Sumie, who has come to watch her prepare for an evening serving and entertaining men. The two 16-year-olds swap make-up tips. As trainees, they live away from their families and receive only their board and lodging. A professional dresser arrives to help complete Ichimiyo’s transformation from giggling teenager to an ornamented male fantasy. In five years, she will be able to charge powerful clients thousands of pounds for just a few hours in the world of old-style deference the geishas offer. Their own view of their profession, though, is surprisingly hard-headed.

ICHIMIYO, MAIKO:
[TRANSLATION]

When I told my friends out of the blue that I was going to become a maiko, they said, “What are you talking about? Are you crazy?”

SUMIE, TRAINEE GEISHA:
[TRANSLATION]

At first, my friend, my parents and my teachers were against it, but now they are all behind me.

ICHIMIYO:
[TRANSLATION]

Our job is not just to say “yes, yes, yes”. That’s boring. Our job is to make the customers feel comfortable. I think the image of us as submissive is a wrong one.

HEAD:
Marriage seems to be going out of fashion here in Japan. Is that true of other girls your age?

ICHIMIYO:
[TRANSLATION]

I don’t know why. Do you know?

SUMIE:
[TRANSLATION]

People just want to do their own thing these days.

ICHIMIYO:
[TRANSLATION]

I think maybe women are stronger now.

HEAD:
Geishas for many men still embody perfect feminine qualities of grace and compliance. No wonder so many male politicians then can’t work out why modern women are rejecting marriage. The government has several action plans promoting childcare, paternity leave and shorter working hours, but they are not taken seriously by a public which has heard a former prime minister tell women to stay at home and breed.

HIROKO MIZUSHIMA MP
DEMOCRATIC PARTY:

They still think that if mothers stay home, they can make more babies. I think actually they are not so interested in this issue. Well, suddenly they are shocked by the birth rate, and they think Japanese people will diminish or disappear, and suddenly they get panicked, but usually they are not interested in those things.

HEAD:
That view is shared by millions of Japanese. On this issue, the government has a serious credibility problem.

TAKUMI NEMOTO MP
COUNCIL FOR BIRTHRATE DECLINE:
[TRANSLATION]

We know the declining birth rate is very serious. I have been working on it for ten years, so it’s a pity if people long distance dating tip what the government is trying to do. I think our policies have got better over the years, but it’s important that we present them more clearly to the public.

HEAD:
The toughest challenge will be changing Japan’s working culture. These men have given years of loyal service to their companies. Now they are trying to make the difficult adjustment from office to home. Recently retired salarymen are called “fallen wet leaves” by their wives because they are so useless at home. Divorce rates are rising faster in this age group than any other.

TOSHIMITSU HONDA:
[TRANSLATION]

You see, if you only say, “Dinner, bath and bed” after you come home from work, your wife will run away from you.

HEAD:
Is your wife very pleased that you are learning to cook?

NOBORU MOCHIZUKI:
Yes, and she respects me because she thinks independence is important for the future life.

HEAD:
The yawning gulf that exists between modern Japanese women and old-fashioned male values is being mirrored by an extraordinary drama being played out here at the Imperial Palace. Behind these fortress-like walls, an independent-minded Crown Princess is battling against the Royal household’s very traditional expectations of her as a woman. She was married into the Royal Family to produce an heir, and she has. The trouble is only men can occupy this antiquated throne and Princess Masako has been under intense pressure from the Palace to have a son. The Oxford and Dating advices favour links diplomat is said to be isolated and suffering from depression. The government has now been forced to think the unthinkable - the possibility of allowing a woman to succeed the throne. Japan’s women are better educated than they have ever been. They want more from a society that’s one of the wealthiest in the world. They want fun, they want freedom, and they want to avoid the kinds of marriages their mothers had. No room for marriage right now?

SHIBATA:
No.

HEAD:
Or children?

SHIBATA:
No.

HEAD:
Traditions are being challenged here like never before. Women are leading the way, and waiting for the men to catch up.

WATANABE:
[TRANSLATION]

I live on my own, so I have learned how to cook. I like cleaning my home. It may sound a bit arrogant, but I think I would make a good husband!

HEAD:
Unless there’s a meeting of minds between Japanese women and men over how they live and bring up a family together, the population will age, and it will fall. Japan’s hard-won economic achievements could also be lost.


This transcript was produced from the teletext subtitles that are generated live for Newsnight. It has been checked against the programme as broadcast, however Newsnight can accept no responsibility for any factual inaccuracies. We will be happy to correct serious errors.


Source: News - Japanese women

11.24.07

News - Max Clifford offers guide to fame

Posted in Dating advices, Dating tips at 8:37 pm by alsi

Publicist Max Clifford has created a 10-point guide to becoming famous.


He has advised would-be stars to appear on reality TV shows, date celebrities or Royal Family members, or steal the limelight from a high-profile relative.


People could also fail abysmally on TV talent contests or make the most of being attractive, the PR guru advised in a show for digital channel Fame TV.


Being in the right place at the right time was also a good option, Mr Clifford said.


“There’s no set route or set of rules to achieving fame. Nowadays it’s possible for people to become famous literally overnight,” he advised.


“Talent doesn’t even really come into being famous any more - it helps, obviously, but most of it is just about being seen and with the right people, and then really knowing how to capitalise on it.”


‘No limits’


Examples have been given of people who have gained fame as a result of the methods which Mr Clifford has highlighted.


Appearing on a reality TV show worked for Chantelle Houghton, who, ironically, became a star after appearing as the token unknown advice dating seduction tip on this year’s Celebrity Big Brother.

Max Clifford
1. Appear on a reality series
2. Enter a talent contest
3. Be abysmal on a talent show
4. Gain fame by association
5. Date a celebrity
6. Flaunt your body
7. Date a Royal Family member
8. Make a home sex video
9. Be a success on MySpace
10. Be in the right place at the right time
Source: Fame TV


Doing well on TV talent contests put Will Young, Lemar and Shayne Ward in the public eye - whereas performing poorly in these programmes helped the Cheeky Girls and Darius Danesh.


Paris Hilton, Peaches Geldof and Bianca Gascoigne are among those said to have gained exposure by coming from a famous family.


Coleen McLoughlin and Kevin Federline are cited as people who have become famous by dating a celebrity.


And when it came to being pictured in the right place at the right time, the examples included Liz Hurley and Kelly Brook.


Mr Clifford, 63, said there were “dating safety tip no limits” about what people would do nowadays “if they think it will achieve their dreams of fame”.


Read source of it on the News - Max Clifford offers guide to fame site

11.23.07

News - Safe-dating system for singletons

Posted in Dating advices, Dating tips at 12:25 am by alsi

Read source of it on the News - Safe-dating system for singletons site

The UK’s singletons could soon be using a telephone service to log where, when and who they go on dates with.

The system, known as datesense, could help to prevent women disappearing or being attacked on blind dates.

Daters log their details and check-in afterwards. If they cannot be traced in 72 hours the police are notified.

Dating agency Viva-City.com developed the system after a survey suggested a third of women do not tell anyone where they are going on a first date.

More than 1,000 people were questioned in the survey and over half said they would consider going on a blind date.



Too many people go through life
thinking ‘it’ll never happen to me’


Lizzie Lyell
Suzy Lamplugh Trust

But one-in-three women and 50% of men said they would not tell even their closest friends where they were going.

Most women said this is because they want to be independent, but many said they would feel embarrassed.

Viva-City consulted the Metropolitan Police and personal safety charity the Suzy Lamplugh Trust while establishing the service.

New risks

William McMullan, founder of Viva-City, said: “The safety of our registered users on a first date is something we take very seriously.

“We have developed datesense with the dating online profile tip of the Metropolitan Police and in addition we feature safety tips and advice on the site.”

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust believes the rising popularity of internet dating and a dating advices favour links to meet with strangers brings new risks.

Lizzie Lyell, rupert grint dating advices for the trust, warned that personal safety has to be a priority.

She said: “A lot of personal safety precautions are common sense, but sadly common sense is not always common practice, and too many people go through life
thinking ‘it’ll never happen to me’.

“If you are going on a date with someone, especially if you have never met
them before, then it is really important to think about the risks and what
you can do to reduce them.”

Datesense will be available to Viva-City members from Monday.

11.21.07

News - Tips to get online dates

Posted in Dating advices, Dating tips at 8:30 pm by alsi

If there’s one thing that Mary Balfour knows about, it’s finding Mr or Ms Right.

The love guru runs two dating agencies, two internet dating websites and has penned a self-help guide for singles seeking that special someone.

Her top tip to getting a date is to sell yourself, rather than sit back and hope that the perfect person will stumble onto you.

The first step is write an rupert grint dating advices personal ad. Whether it be an online description, agency profile or personal ad, the rules are the same - avoid clichs, be positive and creative.

Ms Balfour says personal ads can be a minefield for the uninitiated, so learn to decode the euphemisms used by fellow singles. “Fun-loving” typically means up for frolics between the sheets; while “young-looking” means well over your preferred age range, and “young at heart” is likely to indicate someone eligible for a pension.

She recommends that women never put their age in ads.

“Men can be very ageist, particularly against women in the 37 to 45 group. Much better to put the age of men you’re looking for, and they’ll assume you’re right for them. They’re much more prejudiced on paper than in the flesh.”

Survival of the fittest

With one in five Britons now using dating aids to meet people, according to a report by Telecom Express, first impressions count more than ever. Ms Balfour says there’s no bigger turn-off than being negative.

Mary Balfour


Remember it could be your first exposure to your future partner


Mary Balfour

“Don’t say ‘I don’t want to meet someone who’s tight with money.’ Far better to say ‘I’d like to meet someone generous.’ And don’t write a CV, try to inject some feelings into it. Remember, [your ad] could be your first exposure to your future partner.”

And people like to see what they’re getting - ads with photos tend to get more page views than those which rely on words alone to paint a picture.

Think you look more like a frog than a prince or princess? Not to worry, profiles which are most appealing are those in which the subject is smiling. And for women, Ms Balfour recommends wearing more make-up than usual for their close-up to avoid a “bleached out look”.

Try me - and me

So what to do once this appealing “shop window” has sparked interest and a real-life date - or dates - is on the cards?

Couple laughing

Keep it light

Ms Balfour says keep the date short and sweet - stick to light-hearted topics, particularly steering clear of past relationships.

And remember, profiles can be american singles dating advices site so don’t be too disappointed if Mr Tall, Dark and Handsome turns out to be none of the above. Just chalk it up to experience. Ms Balfour calls it domino dating.

“To increase your dating success rate, you must dating safety tip increase your failure rate,” she says.

In other words, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince.

Smart Dating by Mary Balfour is published by Harper Collins.


Original article News - Tips to get online dates

11.20.07

News - When will Brown call an election?

Posted in Dating advices, Dating tips at 7:24 pm by alsi

Original article ‘News - When will Brown call an election?

Ask the same question today and the answer may very well be “why wouldn’t he”.

Indeed, according to the Mirror’s reports of a leaked memo from New Labour’s chief strategist, Lord Gould, it is something Mr Brown is considering.

The memo, written before Mr Brown became prime minister, reveals much of the style and approach Mr Brown has brought to the job was mapped out long beforehand and he appears to have pretty much stuck to the plan.

The key section, which has added to early-election fever, states: “We have to have a strategy of audacious advance. The best way of achieving this is to hold an early election after a short period of intense and compelling activity. A kind of ’shock and awe strategy’ blasting through the opposition and blasting us to the mid-40 per-cents.”


It comes form the same man who wrote the memo saying Tony Blair should leave Downing Street with the crowds begging for more and it seems to accurately predict precisely what is now happening.

The Tories are dating safety tip good dating tip with a bout of internal sniping and blood-letting as David Cameron’s opinion poll ratings slide.

Autumn poll risks

Meanwhile the “new” prime minister is enjoying a predicted bounce in the polls and is offering what appears to be a popular, more serious and less glitzy approach to leadership and just that period of “intense and
compelling activity”.


If Britain went to the polls today, a fourth Labour victory with around double the current majority is what the current opinion surveys suggest as the likely outcome.


So, after a good summer holiday during which, knowing Mr Brown, he will never stop calculating and planning, could he return in September and, shortly afterwards, spring a general election?


It may look enticing, but there are some real risks in going for an autumn poll.


There are historical examples of prime ministers either going early or waiting, and suffering as a result - Labour’s Clem Atlee in 1951 (early)
and Jim Callaghan in 1979 (late) and the Tories’ Ted Heath in 1974 (early).


But they probably don’t offer any real insights - other than how
dating advices stds this game is - as conditions are always entirely different.

Begging bowls

So Mr Brown will be calculating from scratch. And one of the first
obstacles is the relatively mundane yet vital issue of cash.

Labour is currently some 26 million in the red and, thanks to the
cash-for-honours affair, donors have been reluctant to cough up.


That black cloud may be passing, and party officials are already out and
about with their begging bowls.


One way or another, should Gordon go for it, the money would be there.


And if the campaign was genuinely limited to three weeks, with fewer
hugely expensive stunts and more soap box campaigning, that may be a
welcome change from a party committed to getting back in touch with the
voters.


Similarly, there are problems getting the local and national party
machines, currently stripped back to the bone, in fighting shape.


That too is not an insurmountable problem but could give Mr Brown’s
party advisers reason to urge a delay until next spring - still seen as
the most likely time for an early election. The autumn would all be a
bit of a

scramble.

Conservative leader David Cameron

David Cameron had his own ‘bounce’ when he became Tory leader

But then, putting the case for the autumn, there is the simple fact that
the bounce may just stop.


This sort of political honeymoon is pretty fragile and can be based
almost entirely on simply having a new face on the TV every night -
David Cameron experienced an almost identical bounce after his election
in 2005.


Mr Brown could take advantage of the bounce while being able to claim it
was only right and proper that the British people should have their say
on their new prime minister.


And, let’s face it, even if he “bounced” to victory that would not
lessen the five-year mandate he would have.


Either way, what Mr Brown almost certainly will not want to do is wait
until the last moment, by which time all room for manoeuvre is closed off.

Four year tradition

The actual deadline for the next election is summer 2010, although
recent tradition from both parties suggest the “normal” time for an
election would be May 2009.


But even that may be leaving it a bit late for Mr Brown, who might well
expect to have lost a bit of bounce by then.


If he is a worrier, Mr Brown might fear not just the Tories but that
“events” may have overwhelmed the government.


It would also mean that unlike most PMs he would have spent the first
two years in office preparing for an election rather than christian dating teen tip
the country in his desired direction.


So spring next year looks on the face of it to be the best option - but
clearly there are arguments for and against all the different dates and
the PM knows the virtues of keeping your opponents guessing.

11.16.07

News - Online plan for births and deaths

Posted in Dating ideas, Dating advices at 12:49 pm by alsi




Plans are in the pipeline to make registering births, deaths and marriages in Scotland easier.

The internet will be used to advertise forthcoming marriages and people will be able to make black dating advices personals online.

The proposals are part of the Registration Services (Scotland) Bill, which is now out to interracial dating advices forums.

Deputy Public Service Reform Minister Tavish Scott said the bill would help
make sure the system stood up to the demands of tomorrow’s Scotland.

As part of the plans a new book of Scottish connections held by the General Register Office in Edinburgh would allow millions of people all over the world to access and add to the information.

Registrar General for Scotland Duncan Macniven said: “The changes we are
proposing to the registration of births, deaths and marriages are groundbreaking modernisation of a much-loved system, and will make it more flexible and more accessible for people across Scotland.”

Among the ideas, births and deaths could be registered anywhere in
Scotland, not just at the place where the event occurred.

Deputy public service reform minister Tavish Scott

Deputy Public Service Reform Minister Tavish Scott wants adventist singles dating advices

Couples wanting to marry at sea would also be able to make their dream a
reality by making all Scotland’s territorial waters part of new registration districts.

And forthcoming marriages would be advertised on a website as well as local registration office notice boards.

Although the option for a face-to-face discussion about a birth or death would
remain, people would also be able to register events using their home
computers.

Mr Scott MSP said: “This bill has great potential, especially the book of Scottish connections which will allow anyone with Scottish roots to register an event which happens overseas.

“This will be an exciting opportunity for ex-pats, those with Scottish
connections and others wanting to keep family records in Scotland up-to-date.”


Source News - Online plan for births and deaths article

11.15.07

News - Poster boy

Posted in Dating ideas, Dating advices at 2:14 pm by alsi

Today, pinning up posters remains a way to make a rented house a home. At Exeter student Simon Manning’s flat, classic images - Audrey Hepburn and co - jostle alongside posters for bands.

The Blu tac ban familiar to many is still in place. But in a world of house makeovers, framed prints from homeware shops are also present.

The original Athena chain has folded, but a newer purveyor of pictures operates under that name on many a High St. For many of the chain’s customers, the medium matters as much as the image, with large, chunky, frameless canvases popular sellers, typically of sunsets and seascapes.

Also popular with today’s poster buyers are iconic images from the 90s, such as the Gallagher brothers and Pulp Fiction. Then there’s the growing trend for DIY artwork - well, enlargements of our own digital photos.

But in past decades there were defining images - how and why were they so iconic?

THE 1960S: HENDRIX ET AL
Woman looking at Jimi Hendrix poster

Hendrix - everything a rebel wanted

Marianne Faithful in unzipped tight leathers for the poster promoting Girl on a Motorcycle summed up the music and film zeitgeist of 60s posters.

But the ultimate image was a monochrome Jimi Hendrix headshot, “because it’s everything your parents didn’t want you to have anything to do with,” says David Lee, editor of art paper The Jackdaw.

“The long hair, spaced-out expression, the fag. Youth culture was about identifying with something your parents thought ridiculous.”

This was the first generation to put the blown-up poster of his face on student walls and squatters digs - alongside other prominent rock and roll images, such as The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, arm aloft, about to windmill into a guitar chord. Or the psychedelic pink, yellow and green of Cream’s Disraeli Gears album.

This was about more than simply expressing a preference for a rock band, says Mr Lee.

“It was nothing to do with rock ‘n’ roll. It was something new, because prior to that, everyone had been very polite, and in Pete Townshend, here was a guy who was about to smash his guitar to pieces.”

THE 1970S: TENNIS’S SOFT SIDE
Tennis Girl

Enter the 70s, and walking away from the camera is a teenage model, tennis dress hitched up as she scratches her knickerless bottom. Tennis Girl by Martin Elliot is an image recalled by critics and public alike.

But experts find little to recommend such a popular image. Of those contacted, some refused to discuss the image - one dismisses it as “mere masturbation material” and another derides it as “of an unreconstructed time”.

For Howard Sounes, the author of Seventies: The Sights, Sounds and Ideas of a Brilliant Decade, it is “just soft porn”. And its massive sales can be attributed to “teenage boys who had it on their bedroom walls - if your mum would let you - or at public school, where they encourage that kind of thing.

“I don’t imagine any girls bought it; I can’t imagine any adult having it. It is the equivalent of a picture today of Kelly Brook in a playboy bunny outfit.”

It has of-the-decade soft focus and muted colours. Dated it may be, yet its huge sales have made a lasting impression. Both Kylie and tennis player Anna Kournikova have recreated the image in photo shoots.

Mr Elliot admits his poster is “not a picture I would buy”, but puts its appeal down to the seaside postcard spirit of the image, coupled with “one of the world’s fantasies that you are going to see up a woman’s skirt”.

But for Mr Sounes, the defining images of the decade should be David Hockney’s paintings, the Pompidou Centre, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, above the “naff, nasty stuff” recalled by children of that decade.

THE 1980S: NEW MAN BARED
Man and Baby

Enlarge Image

Three factors led Man and Baby selling by the truckload, says Andrew Renton, curating director at Goldsmiths, University of London and a Turner Prize judge.

The image of a smooth-chested hunk, skin to skin with a baby boy subverts more than 1,000 years of art history, replacing the Madonna and child. “The bloke is left holding the baby, and art history never did that before,” says Mr Renton.

The 1986 image perfectly depicts the era’s ideal of a caring, sharing New Man. A man toned, but not bulging; caring, not aggressive; “an impossible vision” of manhood.

Where young males bought Tennis Girl, young women plumped for Man and Baby - not just for eye-candy, but because of the message it gives off.

“It’s not just ‘phwoar’, it’s a much deeper rooted fantasy. It says ‘I want this man and I want babies’. It’s a complex fantasy that combines sexuality and a nurturing desire - but one wouldn’t normally mean to be so public about it.”

Today, it looks dated - the square-jawed model, the airbrushing, stonewash jeans, the Chippendale-esque pectorals, the man holding the baby while the dating anniversary gift idea woman goes off to run the company.

“It’s definitely the 80s equivalent of the 70s Tennis Girl scratching her bum. It told us how reconstructed we had all become.”



Add your comments on this story, using the form below.

What about the Che Guevara poster? I can hardly remember any student room or bedsit in the late 60s and early 70s that did not have one of those on display.
Richard, Rochdale

I guess the 1990s equivalent was Kurt Cobain.
Josh, London, UK

The picture of the Tennis Girl is fun (porn???) and is best described as “cheeky”; the picture of Man and Baby is the closest any of us will get to being God and holding life in our hands. If you have never experienced holding a baby like that, whether it is yours or not, then you haven’t lived.
James, Edinburgh, but currently in Japan

The ultimate student poster is the iconic Che Guevara. Everybody has seen the poster, even if they don’t know who he is, and can recall the defining poster of the 20th Century.
Kashif , Birmingham

I’m at university now and most of the posters hanging in our house are cartoon ones - Family Guy, Dangermouse and Finding Nemo. I wonder what that says about the quality of university graduates today?
Chris Plant, Lancaster

What about the Betty Blue poster? That was everywhere too, and far more appealing.
Melanie, Reading

Brings back memories. When this came out I had a 24 year old husband and a new baby. Loved the poster but decided I would rather have my own husband and baby, so took a picture in same pose in black and white then had it blown up poster size. Still have the daughter, no longer have the husband but he has the poster on his wall in his flat.
Suzannah Osborne, Manchester

I have four posters up in my room: Mohammed Ali knocking out Sonny Liston, the album cover of Wu Tang Forever, the sleeve of Fools Gold by the Stone Roses and a picture of the rat pack playing pool. I also have a print of Bosch’s El Inferno. What does this say about me “experts”? In the 90s when I was a teenager most of the lads had posters of Oasis and Jennifer Aniston
Phil Harrington, Newport, S Wales

I still think this is a great picture. As a teenager in the 80s it was how I wanted to be. I’m more realistic nowadays about how I look without a shirt on, but it’s still not a bad thing to want to be: a caring bloke who looks after himself and his child. I really can’t think what the equivalent iconic image would be today; probably a computer game nerd with his jeans slung around the tops of his thighs (blimey, I feel old).
JA Booth, North Yorkshire

Funny, I always imagined that the baby might be thinking “You haven’t got a clue what to do with me, have you?”
Danny, London

The 90s equivalent must surely be the poster for 1995 Brit flick Trainspotting. As a teenager at the time, the image was dating advices healthy relationship - a favourite in bedrooms, common rooms and gig foyers alike. It invokes the time of Britpop, when the UK made an essential dating experts east indians to music, art and movies, and for just a short while, truly was the capital of a world obsessed with modern culture. Just a few years later Cool Britannia spawned and the whole affair was ruined, leaving just a few dodgy albums and Blu tac marks to show for it.
Gavin Cowell, Hayes, Middlesex

I was one of the millions that bought this in the 1980s. I can’t believe that it was that long ago. It is really cheesy now but the guy still has the kind of looks that most women like. I wonder what ever happened to the baby
Siobhan Devlin, Belfast

My bedroom, and later college room, walls were somewhat atypically adorned with pictures of the Moon taken from the Apollo programme. And a picture of Skylab on the ceiling which fell down with regular monotony!
Megan, Cheshire

Who could forget the prism from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon?
Robert Hammond, Milton Keynes

I remember this poster very well from the 1980s. I’m now 32 and recently became the father of twin girls, and one question now comes to mind: Just when did this New Man get the time to do so much as a single push up to get those muscles? My experience of fatherhood is bad food, bad skin, no sleep, and certainly no time for exercise. My guess is he was off to the gym as soon as the partner came home - not such a caring guy after all!
Paul Curran, Tameside, UK

In my student halls, the film poster for Scarface seems to don every other wall.
James, Bristol UK

The iconic posters of my schooldays (1970’s) were anything by MC Escher, Peter Max, a psychedelic concert poster for Fillmore East, Dali or the Woodstock poster. Rarely was it photography.
Nick, Washington, DC

I have admired the 1980s poster, Man and Baby for many years, although at the time I was a very young father. It summed up how I felt - pride, achievement, humbling and protective urges. Sad, thirty-plus years later that focus of attention wants nothing to do with me. However, showing that poster again proves that I am the loser in that I still have the same feelings. My love has never faltered.
Tim McMahon, Pennar, Wales

It’s surprising to me that printed posters are still selling, given most people’s ready access now to digital cameras and editing software, and colour printers. Maybe this is why it’s so hard to define an iconic image for now: we are each able to pick our own favourite pictures from a world of niche offerings, and a single image can no longer capture everyone’s imagination.
Selina, UK

Is it just me, or did anyone else grow up thinking that the poster of the tennis player was of our very own Sue Barker? After all these years I now find out that it wasn’t her!
Jimmy McLean, London

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